Anyone else feel like this year's tourney will be the toughest to predict in years?

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I mean the favorites include Kansas, Baylor, SDSU, and Gonzaga; anybody in love with any of those teams? Usually the crazy upsets happen during the first weekend, while the Elite 8 and beyond are mostly chalk. I feel like this year could be absolute chaos with there being zero truly elite teams plus a whole bunch of pretty good teams who could all beat each other on any given night.

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Baylor and KU are both good enough to make the E8 but upsets happen every single year. I think KU has been the more inconsistent team over the course of the season, not grossly so, just a smidge AND I have a Bear bias so while I actually think BOTH make the E8 I think that if one of them is going to falter along the way it will be KU. Usually the teams that go all the way to the FF have at least one outstanding guard and/or a dominant big man. KU has both, BU not as much but shares the ball better I think and that's what will get them to the E8.

One other thing that FF teams generally have is senior leadership and BU has that in spades.

I generally agree with the OP''s assertion though, it's gonna be a different sort of bracket that wins your pool.

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This year it’s impossible to rank teams! Tom Izzo’s Spartans are clobbering Scott Van Pelt’s terps in College Park after limping into the Top 25! Who’d a thunk it? Besides me. It’s March. MSU is always tough in March. Why did the Committee stop considering the last 10 games?

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Pat Forde. @ByPatForde

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Five ranked teams have lost to unranked teams so far today. BYU is losing to an unranked team. Duke is tied with an unranked team. March is going to be goofy.

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It seems like any year people say it's gonna be wacky, we get maybe one rando in the Final Four and everything else is the usual. If anything, last year was wacky with a #3 Tech and #5 Auburn getting there, and even the #1 Virginia hadn't been in forever.

As of today, Michigan State, Kentucky and Kansas are among the hottest teams in the country. Other popular Final Four picks Oregon and Gonzaga are setting up for very high seeds. So that's all business as usual.

Duke, Virginia and more obviously UNC don't look like they'll be around long in March, so that will be different at least.

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It seems like any year people say it's gonna be wacky, we get maybe one rando in the Final Four and everything else is the usual. If anything, last year was wacky with a #3 Tech and #5 Auburn getting there, and even the #1 Virginia hadn't been in forever.

As of today, Michigan State, Kentucky and Kansas are among the hottest teams in the country. Other popular Final Four picks Oregon and Gonzaga are setting up for very high seeds. So that's all business as usual.

Duke, Virginia and more obviously UNC don't look like they'll be around long in March, so that will be different at least.

you must not remember last year very well, as it was one of the easier brackets to predict in recent memory. We had plenty of great games in the second and third weekend because it was all of the best teams that we knew were good playing each other. Auburn was #11 in kenpom and one of the hottest teams in the country heading into the tournament, going 10-1 in their last 11 (only loss was @Kentucky) and winning the SEC tourney along the way. Tech was #5 in Kenpom, didn't have a loss to a team ranked lower than 35th on the season, and had the best defense *ever* in the Kenpom era. last year's tourney wasn't wacky at all.

This year on the other hand there are zero truly great teams, and pretty much any of the kenpom top 25 could beat Baylor, KU, Gonzaga, or Duke on any given day without it being all that surprising. Included in Kenpom's top 15 are the likes of Baylor, Dayton, Creighton, SDSU, Maryland, BYU, and Seton Hall. You gonna tell me you feel confident predicting how these teams will fare one the tourney? I don't think so. This is a down year for college hoops that features more parity and mystery than any season in recent memory. There really is no "chalk" this year like there normally is. The field is wide open.